Valve mechanism



Jan. 9, 1962 c. M. TERRY 3,015,963

VALVE MECHANISM Filed April 20, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

C. M. TERRY VALVE MECHANISM Jan. 9, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April20, 1959 INVENTOR.

United States Patent Ofiice 3,015,963 Patented Jan. 9, 1962 Filed Apr.20, 1959, Ser. No. 807,688 2 Claims. (Cl. 74-44) This invention relatesto a valve mechanism, and more particularly to a remotely controlledmotor operated valve.

In a hydronic system, namely a system for heating or cooling with water,it is current practice to use a separate circulator for each zone whenthe system is arranged to have a plurality of zones. This is arelatively expensive procedure since each zone requires its own pipingsystem, as well as individual pump. By the use of the valve disclosedherein, only a single circulator is required for the whole system, andthe remotely controlled valve may fit under a conventional baseboardtype radiator to selectively supply fluid to the radiator. The supply offluid to the radiator thus may be controlled by a thermostat which isconnected to operate the motor associated with the valve and a singlevalve may then be used in each zone rather than a separate circulatorfor each zone.

An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved valvemechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide a motor operated valve inwhich the mechanism for operating the valve member is a claw devicereadily connectable to the valve member and said claw device converts arotary eccentric movement to a linear valve movement. This mechanismalso permits the valve member to fully seat to block fluid flow.

Other objects of the invention are to fully insulate the motor and itsassociated mechanism from the valve and to etfectively seal the valvestem against leakage therealong by the use of an O ring undercompression and specifically a pair of concentric rings in which theinner ring engages the stem, and the outer ring is under compression andexerts force on the inner ring and takes up wear in said inner ring.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdetailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the motor operated valve mechanismlooking toward the left in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken generally along the line 22 in FIG.1, and with the valve member shown seated;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken generally along the line3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section similar to FIG. 2, but showingthe parts in a position with the valve member raised oflE its seat topermit fluid fiow and parts of the valve casing omitted; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section on an enlarged scale takengenerally along the line 55 in FIG. 2.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many difierentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the invention and is not intended to limit the inventionto the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will bepointed out in the appended claims.

As shown in the drawings, the motor operated valve mechanism comprises avalve casing, indicated generally at 10, and a motor box, indicatedgenerally at 11, which controls the position of a poppet valve member 12in the valve casing 10.

The valve casing 10 is made up of parts 13, 14, 15 and 16 which arethreadably connected together to provide a chamber 17, a fluid inlet 18,and a fluid outlet 19 for the valve. The casing part 13 has an annularseat 20 against which the valve member 12 seats to block fluidcommunication between the fluid inlet 18 and the fluid outlet 19.

A valve stem 21 is associated with the valve member 12 and extendsupwardly through the casing part 16 to have a cap 22 at the upper end ofthe stem, as well as a reduced diameter section 23 of the stem extendwithin the motor box 11 for association with a claw device describedsubsequently.

The valve member 12 is urged toward a closed position by a spring 24extending between the valve member 12 and a flanged collar 25surrounding the valve stem and engageable against the valve casing part16.

The motor box 11 is connected to the valve casing 10 by means of a bodybracket 26 which is tightly fitted upon the valve casing part 16 andthrough which machine screws 27 extend into threaded engagement with theframe 30 at the bottom of the motor box 11. In order to preventtransmission of heat to the motor box, and thus prolong the life of themotor and other components, a heat barrier is positioned between thebracket 26 and the motor box in the form of a sheet 29 of suitableinsulating material.

The frame assemby, indicated generally at 30, is mounted within themotor box 11, and mounts a motor 31 which drives a gear 32 meshing witha gear 33 of a larger diameter fixed to a shaft 34 rotatably mountedonthe frame assembly 30 by shaft bearings 35, as shown in FIG. 5.

The shaft 34 carries an integral cam and eccentric unit which isrotatable therewith by connection thereof to the shaft by a set screw36. This unit embodies an eccentric 37, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5,and an adjacent cam 38, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. The eccentric37 hasthe two extreme throw positions, as noted by comparison of FIGS. 2 and4. In FIG. 2, the eccentric has its high directed toward the valvecasing 10, and alternatively'has its high directed away from the valvecasing, as shown in FIG. 4.

Means are provided for converting the rotary motion of the eccentric 37to linear movement of the valve stem 21, comprising a claw devicemounted on the eccentric 37 and engageable with the valve stem. The clawdevice embodies a pair of spaced apart plates 40 and 41 which areinterconnected by rivets 42 which pass through suitable spacers (notshown) disposed between the plates 40 and 41 for maintaining theirspaced apart relation. The plates 40 and 41 each have a downwardextension provided with leading edges 43 and 44, respectively, whichextend adjacent to the side of the valve stem cap 22. Each plate has anarm 45 and 46, respectively, which extends from the leading edges 43 and44 to lie alongside the reduced part 23 of the valve stem and under thevalve stem cap 22. It will be noted that the claw device plates 40 and41 are swingable on the eccentric 37 to permit ready assembly anddisassembly with the valve stem 21. A spring 50 is connected between theframe assembly, as indicated at 51, and the claw device to maintain theclaw device assembled with the valve stem while still permitting manualswinging movement of the claw device to disassemble the device from thevalve stem 21.

With the parts as shown in FIG. 2, the valve member 20 is on its seat,and it will be noted that the arms 45 and 46 of the claw device arespaced beneath the end cap 22 of the valve stem whereby the valve member12 is free to fully close on the seat 20 under the urging of the spring24. Upon one-half revolution of the eccentric 37 to the position shownin FIG. 4 by operation of the motor 31, the claw device has been raisedand has carried the valve member 12 therewith to open a fluid pathbetween the fluid inlet 18 and the fluid outlet 19. The spring 50assists in maintaining the claw device in association with the valvestem. ,The position of the valve membe'rlZ is indicated through anopening 54 in the casing of the motor box 11 by a plate 55 carryingsuitable indicia which is mounted on the rotatable shaft 34.

The claw device is maintained in lateral alignment on the eccentric 37by means of a raised flange 56 on the eccentric which lies between theplates 40 and 41. A lubricant is provided for the claw device in theform of an oilerfelt 57 positioned about the eccentric 37 in the spacebetween the claw device plates 40 and 41.

The motor 31 is suitably wired for remote operation, as by a thermostat,and wiring connections from the thermostat to the motor 31 are madethrough a terminal board 58 carried on the frame assembly 30. Eachoperation of the motor 31 results in a one-half revolution of the shaft34 and this operation is effected by the utilization of the cam 38which, as shown in FIG. 3, is positioned for alternate operation of apair of limit switches 59 and 60 which are connected in circuit with themotor 31. As shown in FIG. 3, the limit switches have operating arms 61and 62 respectively, which are alternately engaged by the cam 38. A v vA Means are also disclosed to prevent fluid leakage along a movablemember such as the valve stem 21 comprising an Q ring under compressionengaging the stern. This is effected by a pair of concentric ringsdisposed in a groove 63 formed between the casing part 16 and the collar25 surrounding the valve stem 21. These concentric 0 rings are indicatedat 64 and 65, with the inner 0 ring 64 engaging the valve stem andforming the member subjectto wear. The outer 0 ring 65 has a smallerinternal diameter than the outer diameter of the inner ring 64 and isunder compression in the groove 63 whereby the assembly of theconcentric 0 rings results in compressiyeforces in the outer ring actingupon the inner ring 64 to provide a tight seal against the valve stemand take up any wear in the inner ring. The inner O ring 64 may be of afairly hard wear-resistant material, one example of which is afluorocarbon elastomer such as Viton, while the outer ring 65 may be ofa softer, more compressible material.

I claim: 1. Amechanis'm for operating a longitudinally movable stem of avalve or the like having an abutment thereon comprising, a rotatableshaft, an eccentric on said shaft, a motor operatively connected to saidshaft for selectively rotating said shaft, a claw device having anopening receiving the eccentric and mounting the claw device on theeccentric, said claw device including a pair of depending generally Lshaped spaced apart fingers defining an open ended slot thcreb'etweenfor receiving said stem with parts of said fingers disposed beneath thestern abutment, and means for yieldably retaining the claw device andstem in associated relation by urging the claw device rotatively aboutthe ecc'e'nti-ic'to have the fingers engage the edge of the abutmentwhereby the claw device converts rotary eccentric motion to linearmovement of the stem and the claw device can be disassociated from thestem by rotating the claw device in a direction against the force ofsaid yieldable means. l

2. A mechanism for operating a longitudinally movable stem of a valve orthe like having an abutment thereon comprising, a rotatable eccentric, aclaw device embodying a pair of interconnected spaced apart plateshaving edges extending to an arm on each plate with the arm at asubstantial angle to the edge whereby the edges of the pair of platesengage a side of the abutment and the arms are disposed therebeneath,and spring means engaging the claw device and urging the claw devicetoward the stein as limited by engagement of the claw device with theabutment side and the eccentric whereby rotation of the eccentric istranslated into linear movement of the claw device and stem and the clawdevicemay be disas sociated from the stem by pivotal movement of theclaw device away from the stem against the action of said spring.

References Cited in the the of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

